<p>I might be at odds with everybody, but in my opinion, if you’re good, you’ll shine no matter where you are. I have a lot of friends who went to “lesser name” schools (think 30 or greater on the USNWP rankings) and are doing brilliantly after graduation (MD/PhD at UPenn, MD at Harvard, PhD at Harvard). Susan Lindquist, former Whitehead Director and National Medal of Science recipient, attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a full scholarship, for undergrad.</p>
<p>However, you should be aware of the opportunities that are afforded to you at UW Madison vs. MIT. My post-doc actually went to UW Madison, and she was a little upset about how little post-graduate education information she received at UW Madison–as in, she wasn’t even made aware that she could actually go to graduate school until almost senior year. When she went to grad school, it was really tough for her, since she’d never read a single scientific paper until graduate school; she essentially had to learn a lot of things from scratch. But this is kind of an individual experience…who knows maybe yours could be different?</p>
<p>But yeah, research at MIT is phenomenal. So many geniuses here WAHWAHWAH.</p>